Mary Yong

MUSE 356
Dr Ester
Peer Teaching #2 Reflection

My second peer teaching for MUSE 356 was a bit disappointing to myself at first. While

I saw strengths later after watching the video and reflecting; before, during, and after the

teaching I was a bit too nervous/insecure and felt like I wasn’t even good at what I am majoring

in. However, the quote that I reminded myself after class was, ‘This is still a learning

experience.’ I think hearing that took a lot of pressure off of not being perfect. I also realized that

yes, not everything was amazing but there are improvements that I’ve made and strengths that I

have had, but have finally shined through. (Even if those positives took a bit to notice.) In this

essay, I will reflect on my planning, preparation/practice, and my strengths/areas of improvement

needed for future teaching events.

I really enjoyed planning for this peer teaching. I like to think of myself as a pretty

creative person, I always love thinking of fun activities for Prism Project, elementary methods,

or secondary general methods. However, when it came to any Dr Ester teaching assignment, I

felt very restricted and as if I just needed to do what is expected and not try to go outside the box.

I think this mentality was due to me putting Choral Lab, Vocal Tech, and Choral Methods on a

pedestal, and thinking, ‘I have to do it a certain way or I am not a good teacher.’ Peer Teaching

#2 though, I decided to be a little different, and show that I am a very creative and clever person.

Not only that, but I can still meet all requirements while still showing off my personality and

how I like to teach. I enjoyed planning this teaching because I enjoy researching on pieces and

telling stories to a class about the history (InTASC #3). I also like finding ways to keep the class

moving, so stretching while telling the story was a clear example of that. Planning out a way to

teach vowel shapes with masks on was easy for me. I just automatically thought of Enrico
Caruso and the pictures of him doing the 5 vowel shapes. In general, planning creative, different

ways of teaching is easy for me, however executing my skills (piano) is more challenging.

Preparation and practice was not as well done as my last peer teaching. I definitely had a

lot on my plate and prepping for this peer teaching was not near the top of my list. While

planning for the teaching was fun for me, the difficult part of practicing for the piano

accompaniment was not. Instead of focusing on my vocal skills and how I can use that, I instead

stressed over piano and how I need to be amazing. I’m not a pianist, and putting so much

pressure on a peer teaching when the primary focus is vocals, not piano, is only going to make all

aspects, not that great. For future peer teachings, I need to prep/practice more rote teaching

vocally ​not so much on piano.

After watching the video of my teaching I noticed a couple of strengths of mine that I’ve

known I had, but finally have been proven in a Dr Ester teaching. I had a great, clear speaking

voice, and the ability to think outside the box creatively with how I squeezed in a story with

warming up the class, and teaching vowels with a mask on (InTASC 2 and 3). However, the

story, while important, took up a bit more time than planned and I continued to not pace each of

my exercises as practiced. Like what was mentioned in class, I clearly did a lot of priming (my

curwin handsome echo exercise) but never concluded all that priming into the score. I need to be

more obvious to students about my intentions. I noticed I​ focused on the first 4 mm a little bit but

then continued to teach the entire piece again. I was aware of the assignment, focusing on a

couple measures, but I didn’t know how to pick just a couple if I was focusing on vowels.

However, I didn’t time it well enough in the moment to get through all of it in time. For future

teachers I need to just find one phrase and get through the notes/rhythm faster through rote

teaching and then focus hard on vowels (InTASC7). As mentioned in class, I am very aware of
the terrible piano accompaniment I offered. I keep trying to do more than I need to, then getting

nervous and then not even being able to do the bare minimum.

In conclusion, I need to work on teaching rote vocally, not so much piano. Also, pacing

and priming but concluding it with putting the knowledge to the score. I am happy with how far I

have come with this peer teacher, and being able to show more strengths. However, it can still be

immensely improved.